They want India to lose

With India taking on Pakistan in thesemifinal on Wednesday, bookies are working in overdrive to reap maximumbenefits out of what is being called the the baap of all matches amidst prayersat temples, sick leave from office, sharing de-stressing tips for heart patientsto following superstitions, the country is all set to witness the Clash of theTitans at Mohali on Wednesday, and so are the bookies, who are working overtimebefore this massive and monumentalmatch. India vs Pakistan Semi FinalWith as much as '5000 crore riding on the India vs Pakistan match, Dhoni's men are being backed to come out on top. "Indian team is the favourite and people are betting big bucks onthe Men in Blue. For every one rupee on India, the rate is 60 paise and forPakistan, it's '1.55. India has never lost against Pakistan in a World Cup matchand that's the reason the rates are high on Pakistan," says a Delhi-basedbookie. "An India vs Pakistan match is highly unpredictable. BothIndia and Pakistan are strong teams and that's the reason the odds are very low.When two good teams have an encounter, the odds are usually low, but when a goodteam takes on a minnow, the odds are very high. Like the rate during England vsIreland was 14-73, and we made billions when the England lost, because no onethought Ireland would win. If it's a tie, as was the case during India vsEngland, all bets are off and no one makes any money," says another bookie oncondition of anonymity. Apart from teams, betting is also done onall sorts of permutations and combinations like who will hit the maximum numberof sixes, longest six, who will hit a ton, make the fastest 50, etc. What'smore, betting addicts even wager on the direction from which the bowler willbowl, how high the ball will go when hit for a six, which umpire will open thegame out of the two, will there be a ball change in the match, etc. Bizarre, yousay, well not for punters. Bookie's favourites, Sachin Tendulkar andVirendra Sehwag, are at the top with the rate of '3 as far as scoring a centuryis concerned. Surprisingly Yuvraj Singh, who has had an excellent run in thisWorld Cup is priced at '5. In the Pakistan line-up Younus Khan, Shahid Afridiand Mohammed Hafeez are the clear favourites on scoring a century.Punter & Bookie: The ones who bet are punters, and theones who help them bet by giving rates are bookies. Session: ASession comprises 15 overs. A 50 over match usually has 3 sessions and 1 badasession. The betting starts after the 10th ball is bowled. The first inning isdivided into three sessions of 15 overs each, with the bet placed on whether theteam will score less than 89 runs or more than 90 runs in those 15 overs? Thelast five overs of the first inning and the first 15 overs of the second inningsare clubbed together and it is called a bada session. "In everymatch, betting starts once the tenth ball is bowled. You can bet on '89 Not' or'90 Yes' in every session. If you put your money on '89 Not', and the team makes89 or less runs in those 15 overs, you will win and you will get paid accordingto the rate. If the team makes 90 or more runs in those 15 overs, then youlose." Dabba: It is an electronic device that looks like a smallmusic system or a pocket-sized radio. It is the most important device and isused by almost all bookies, as it helps them keep a tab on booking rates thatkeep changing per session. "Dabbe mein se match ka bhav pata chalta rehta hai.There is a voice that keeps telling the rates. Since the Dabba has a commonline, the rates all across the world are the same." Just like a mystery man,this voice in the Dabba communicates with all the bookies. This voice is themain connect between the mafia that runs the betting system and the bookies. Langdi & Favourite: The team that is on the verge of losing is"Langdi" and the one that's winning is called a "Favourite". (As told by abookie)An official from the special branch of police department oncondition of anonymity said, "We are tracking the movement of bookies, but theyall have become highly tech savvy. Apart from using aliases and code words tocommunicate, they are making use of hi-tech gadgets and technology, which makesit difficult for us to track them. They use Skype to communicate and that's onearea where we are focusing, apart from phone tapping, raids and on-groundactivity." Expressing the helplessness of the department theofficial added, "The public gambling laws are very lenient. Bookies get maximumimprisonment of six months, while punters get three months. Even the fineimposed on them is peanuts, from '500-2,000."